He and I were very close back then, so we had a bit of a challenge to see how many different kids we could have sex with the next summer. I thought I ...as going to kick his butt easily, but he beat me three to one. I was with twenty-one guys. I know that three houses down were having a gal’s summer two weeks at the beach. The dads and boys were vacationing at Philmont. I’m not even sure any of those girls had ’the talk’ with their moms. He tried using rubbers, but the girls said it wasn’t. It was not a nice way to die but what happened to my mother was worse."Even though I didn't see her hanging, I was aware of the process. It was slow and agonizing. Each of the accused was made to stand below the gallows in agony as the noose was placed around their neck and tightened. Tightened enough to make it very hard to breathe. As they choked and strangled they were slowly drawn up."The release of death could take several minutes. Several very unpleasant minutes. At least for me, it was. And Aldo had been learning how to fight with a sword and knife.I knew just about all of the crew, at least by face and maybe name or profession, but very few of them had sailed with me before. They knew that beating a pirate ship out in the ocean could be done, but they had never done it themselves. Still, most of them had participated in one way or another with the town’s defense and could be trusted to stand fast to their jobs as long as nothing went wrong.Unfortunately, they couldn’t be. So far, Dave hadn't spent much time out there, but dropped by once or twice a week just to see what was happening, and then got out of the way as soon as possible."Yes," Shae grinned as she settled into a chair. A lot of her height was in her very long legs; when she sat down in one of the living room chairs she seemed a lot more like normal size. "It's hard to believe it's happening. It's quite a mess out there now, but Jerry says they're right about the point where things look worst. Has Dave.